The adoptive mother, identified only as V.L.in court papers, adopted the three children she was helping to raise with her partner and the children’s biological mother, E.L. The two women agreed to use insemination to have the children.
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Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned this ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court, effectively stating that V.L. should be recognised as a legal parent to the children.
The high court said that the Alabama court had misread Georgia law and violated the principles of the “full faith and credit clause” of the Constitution.
Ultimately, the US Supreme Court argued that there was no reason for the Alabama court to refuse to acknowledge a Georgia court’s ruling in favor of the adoption. Then again in 2004, the couple made a decision to bear more children and once again, E.L. was blessed with twins.
Without bothering to hear arguments, the justices reversed the Alabama Supreme Court in an opinion that spoke for the full court. Without wasting time hearing deliberations, the Supreme Court clearly stated that adoption rights have to respected and honored across states.
“The nation’s highest court today ruled in the best interests of these children, setting a firm precedent for others across our nation”.
The Alabama Supreme Court, led by outspoken conservative Chief Justice Roy Moore, has a history of being a strong voice for traditional marriage.
“I am overjoyed that the US Supreme Court reversed the Alabama court decision”, VL said Monday, according to NBC News.
The mother, known as V.L.in court documents, had adopted the three children that her partner E.L. conceived through IVF. The decision is a direct repudiation of an Alabama Supreme Court decision that refused to recognize a Georgia adoption. In December 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the Alabama court’s decision, allowing the parent to have visitation with her children while the Roberts Court considered her case.
In the short term, Todd’s ruling means she will not allow the death penalty to be used in cases before her court, but her decision is in no way binding on other judges.
Article IV Constitution says states are “required to give full faith and credit” to the “public Acts, Records, and judicial proceedings of every other state”. Adoptions is one of the last legal frontiers for same-sex couples since the Supreme Court recognized same-sex marriage nationwide previous year. Here, the Georgia court that ruled was a superior court given exclusive jurisdiction to decide adoption petitions.
In the case E.L. v. V.L.
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“No adoptive parent or child should have to face the uncertainty and loss of being separated years after their adoption just because another state’s court disagrees with the law that was applied in their adoption”, she said.
